Night Terrors
by RK9
Summary: Written by MadPie for the Footprints on the Heart Criminal Minds AU series. Spencer has a nightmare, and Derek comforts him through it. For now, it's a one-shot.


**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds doesn't belong to me, nor does it belong to the author of this story.

**Author's notes: I didn't write this**, I am merely helping **MadPie**, a reviewer who decided to dabble in my Criminal Minds AU, to post this as she has no ff dot net account. She said that she might make this more than a one chapter thing, but for now, this is all that she sent me of it. This is set after the founding fic in my Footprints on the Heart AU for Criminal Minds, nothing over two years though.

If you have not yet read the founding fic, please go to my profile and do so.

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_"No!!__!……__Please__……..Nooo!!!(sobbing) …… Mommy, please stop! I'll be good……………………__Please…."_

Derek woke up to the sound of soft cries. Rubbing his eyes he sat up and scanned the room. Almost instantly he knew whose cries they were. He looked towards Spencer's bed and saw that his little brother was thrashing around as if he was fighting off an invisible offender.

Without hesitation Derek was up and out of his bed in a heartbeat, and ran to Spencer's side.

"Spence?....What's wrong?" he asked quietly so as not to awaken J.J. who was sleeping only a few feet away on her own bed. Gently he placed a hand on the younger child's shoulder and shook.

"Wake up, Spencer it's just a dream." But the little boy did not wake up and tried to wrench away from his brother's contact emitting a chocked sob instead.

_"No!...I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I'm Sorry!...........I won't tell……..Please!……I won't tell… I promise I won't tell anybody…………I'm a good boy, Mommy. I'm a good boy."_ Becoming frightened that he was causing him more distress; Derek released his hold on the bony shoulder and watched as the tiny figure trembled and writhed upon the mattress. Then the body began to twist and jerk at awkward angles exposing his neck and thin form, his breathing hitched, and tears poured from his shut eyes and Derek was brought back to reality.

This was his little brother, and he should be protecting him from everything that upset him, even if it was a nightmare, not real. As quickly and as tenderly as he could he took both of Spencer's shoulders in his grasp and shook a little rougher than before.

"Spencer! Please, wake up! It's okay now. You're just having a really bad dream. Wake up!" he almost shouted, and he could hear the edge in his voice, wondering if he had woken J.J. All that happened was that his brother's frame stilled and the staggered breathing stopped.

In this light Derek couldn't tell if his brother was awake and his eyes were open or not.

"Spencer?"……..No reply…… "Spencer? Are you awake?"…………..Still nothing.

Derek edged closer and began to stroke his brother's hair. "Spence, please speak to me."……

"Derek?" was the soft whimper that came from the tiny skeleton. _'Finally, a response.'_

"It's ok Spencer, I'm here, It was just a dream."

But Spencer wasn't actually awake like he had thought. He was just responding to the feeling of a warm safe hold that came to his nightmare.

Opening his eyes he was startled to see a dark shadow standing above him. Terrified, Spencer ripped his arm away from the firm grip and pushed himself as far away from that side of the bed as possible.

The next moment he was falling, but there was something keeping him from hitting the ground. It kept him from twisting away, and it was covering his mouth, making it hard for him to breathe.

_'It was trying to choke him! Smother him! Muffling his screams. Stopping him from escaping. Trying to eat him!'_

Watching as Spencer went from scared to utterly terrified; Derek ran around to the other side of the bed and began untangling Spencer from the bed sheets.

"Spencer! ?…" he cried "It was a dream, you're safe now. Please wake up." These last few words Derek spoke while wrapping his arms around his brother and holing him close to his chest.

After a few minutes, Spencer seemed to realize where he was, and Derek took a moment to look at the trembling form, noticing the tears that dripped from his nose even when he refused to lift his head.

"Look at me Spencer. What's wrong? Was it another nightmare?"

Spencer did not feel like telling him about what his dream was about. It never happened. Just another one of his made up memories. It had never happened. At least, that's what he wanted himself to think.

So instead of confiding in Derek and telling him about his scary dream Spencer just leaned his head on Derek's chest and sniffed.

"Come on, Spence, tell me…. Please, this is the third night in a row you've had a nightmare." Derek pleaded, ducking his head so he can see under the curtain of curly brown hair so he could look his brother in the eyes.

"You're really starting to worry me."He tried, but Derek knew it was pointless to get the younger one to tell him about his dream..

Every time this had happened Spencer had refused to say anything. It had become a pattern with the two. Spencer would wake up crying, Derek would come and comfort him while Spencer quietly cried, and then after a while Spencer would fall asleep and Derek would stay there the rest of the night on Spencer's bed.

Getting no response after waiting for a couple of minutes, the elder boy sighed and gently lifted his brother back onto the bed and climbed over him to lay down on the other side of the mattress.

Curling his arm behind Spencer's neck in a gentle hold, Derek leaned in and whispered into his brother's ear, and with a wispy hiccup the other boy turned his face into his neck and sobbed.

Derek's hug deepened and he gently stroked his brother's dark curls. And soon they both fell into the warm comfort of their dreams.

_"You don't have to tell me now, but when you're ready... I'll be here..."_

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by MadPie, not RK9.


End file.
